Visas & Travel

ACQUIRING YOUR AUSTRIAN VISA: (Please refer also to the BOOKING YOUR FLIGHT section below.)

U.S. citizens participating in an educational exchange program need a visa or residency permit for stays longer than 90 days in the EU. Students staying for one semester need an Austrian Student Visa D; students staying for a full academic year need a Residency Permit (application occurs on-site after arrival). There are two options to acquire the Visa D (see below).

Please note: If you are NOT a U.S. or EU citizen, you must clear your visa needs with the Austrian Consulate in Washington, D.C. and/or in your home country, as well as the with the AYA program administration, and, if required, secure your visa well in advance of your intended arrival date.

I. Visa application in the U.S. prior to departure (semester abroad)

It is advisable to obtain your Visa D prior to departure from the U.S. if at all possible. This will entail an appointment to appear in person with all required documents in original and copy at the Austrian Consulate General with jurisdiction over your state of residence or the state of exchange university. This latter would be Louisiana, over which the Austrian Embassy/Consulate in Washington D.C. has jurisdiction. There are Austrian Consulates General in New York City and in Los Angeles, and there are now Visa application offices in Houston and Miami. Here is the link to determine which location is appropriate for you:

https://www.austria.org/consulatesgeneral/

For information about the Visa D and all that is required, please consult these links:

https://www.austria.org/students-scholars

If you choose this option, please contact Resident Director Margaret Davidson to get guidance on acquiring all the necessary papers before making your appointment at the Consulate.
II. Visa application after arrival in Innsbruck (semester abroad)

If you are unable to acquire your visa prior to departure from the U.S., it is possible to apply after your arrival. The Resident Director will arrange for you to apply for your visa once you are on-site. You will have to go to the Austrian Consulate in Munich for this. You will receive updated instructions on what documents to acquire and bring with you, and those that you will acquire once on-site in Innsbruck.
III. Residency Permit application (full academic year abroad)

This procedure is only for students staying two semesters. Please be in touch with the Resident Director about requirements prior to your departure from the U.S. and before making your flight plans.

BOOKING YOUR FLIGHT:

Before you book your flight, please read through Acquiring Your Austrian Visa above carefully. If you opt for acquiring your visa prior to your departure at one of the Consulates, you must book your flight for your actual travel dates. If you opt for acquiring your visa after your departure from the U.S. and arrival in Innsbruck, then the University of New Orleans urges you to follow the advice of the Austrian Consulate in Washington, D.C. and book a return flight within your 90-day visa-free period. You will then change your return after you are on site in Austria. Although there is usually a charge to change your ticket, it is still much less expensive than a trip to Los Angeles, New York City or Washington, D.C. to acquire your visa in advance and with a round-trip ticket for less than a 90-day stay, you can book to arrive anywhere in Europe, which gives you more options on price and pre-program travel.

Please note: We recommend booking a return ticket with a date of less than 90 days from your arrival and changing your return date after arriving in Innsbruck because after recent communications with the Austrian Embassy/Consulate in Washington, D.C. it has become clear that airlines can deny departure from the U.S. at their discretion (!?) and/or EU countries can deny entry for any students saying they are studying abroad for a semester without a Visa D already in their passports. In the past year, AYA has had two such incidents, one of each listed above. These are the first and only such incidents in 21 years of the program, but entry/exit regulations are changing on both side of the Atlantic and the Austrian Consulate in Washington, D.C. has also confirmed knowledge of some similar incidents. We want you to have the information you need to make your own decisions about flights and visas, but we also want to ensure that you understand the risks if you do not have either a Visa D prior to departure or else a return ticket dated within 90 days of your arrival in the EU.

If possible, book your flight directly to Innsbruck or another Austrian airport such as Vienna. Otherwise, Munich is a good option. If you arrive in Vienna or Munich, you can take the train to Innsbruck or, from Munich, the “Four Season’s Shuttle” (www.tirol-taxi.at). If you choose to obtain your student visa after arrival in Innsbruck (see above), we do not recommend flying to another European destination and taking a train to Innsbruck.

Travel in Austria

The best way to travel in Europe is the train. Once you get to Innsbruck, we recommend purchasing a VORTEILScard offered by Austrian Rail (www.oebb.at/en/). This card offers up to a 50% discount for all travel within Austria and up to 25% for travel outside of Austria for students under 26 years of age.

NOTE: We do not recommend any student to drive, rent, purchase or lease a vehicle while abroad. Overall, public transportation in Europe is very efficient, reliable and affordable.